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"If that was a small one, I'm all right. I can say I've been in an earthquake, a tornado, a hurricane," guard Andre Gurode said. "I waited for a good 30 seconds until everything stopped, then I ran outside."
At the time of the earthquake, the Cowboys were on their lunch break after morning meetings. It was about three hours before the start of their afternoon practice, which was held as scheduled.
There was no damage reported at the hotel complex where the team is staying, which is next to the practice fields.
"It wasn't nothing major, just like the ground was moving," defensive lineman Marcus Spears said. "I was in my room upstairs, so we had to get downstairs. That was my first time. You don't get those in Louisiana."
Linebacker Greg Ellis was outside preparing to do a radio interview when he realized the ground was moving.
"I was off-guard, just thinking maybe the wind is blowing. Then I realized the wind can't blow me that hard," Ellis said. "That was my first, hopefully my last. ... It's one of those things that I can say I've been through it. Nothing happened, thank God. And I don't want to go through another one."
Tight end Jason Witten was in the lunch room with abut 20 others. At first, he thought he might be feeling the effects of too many lead blocks on linebacker Bradie James. Then he realized other guys were also looking around trying to figure out what was happening.
When coach Wade Phillips was with the San Diego Chargers, there was a minor earthquake he didn't feel because he was in his car at the time. The coach almost missed this one, too.
"I was on the elliptical (exercise machine) and I was going. I thought,
'Man, I'm really going now, shaking this place down.' So I didn't even notice it," Phillips said. "I thought I was really working out."
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